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MarketPulse

08:30AM

U.S. trade gap widens to $44.2 billion in Augustby Greg Robb

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. trade deficit widened by 4.1% in August to $44.2 billion, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The trade deficit was close to the consensus forecast of Wall Street economists of a deficit of $44.0 billion. Both imports and exports declined in August, but exports fell at a faster pace. This is the third straight monthly decline in exports. The U.S. trade deficit with China narrowed slightly to $28.7 billion in August compared with $29.0 billion in the same month last year.

08:26AM

Alaska Airlines to buy $5 bln in Boeing jets
(
BA
)
by Steve Gelsi

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Alaska Airlines said Thursday it plans to buy 50 Boeing Co.
(ba)
jets with a combined list price of about $5 billion in its largest order in its history. "This order positions us for growth," the carrier said. Alaska Air now operates 120 Boeing 737s. The new order, plus 25 existing firm delivery positions, will give Alasaka Air "flexibility to manage the size of the fleet to meet air travel demand over the next decade," the company said. Boeing said the Alaska Airlines order brings total orders for its 737 Max plane to 858.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Shares of Sprint Nextel Corp.
(s)
jumped 13% in premarket trades Thursday after a report that Japanese mobile carrier Softbank Corp.
(jp:9984)
is in advanced talks to buy the wireless phone company in a deal that could top $12.8 billion. Citing unnamed sources, The Wall Street Journal report said the move by Softbank would amount to a massive gamble to expand its business outside of Japan. The acquisition would come after Softbank bought Vodafone's
(vod)
Japanese unit in 2006.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- J.P. Morgan Chase & Cos.'s Chief Financial Officer Douglas Braunstein is expected to leave the post sometime over the next six months, according to a published report. The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Braunstein saw his status at the firm diminished as a result of a July management shakeup. It said since then he has been reporting to the firm's co-chief operating officer, rather than directly to CEO Jamie Dimon. The paper said Braunstein declined to comment on the report.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Dahlman Rose & Co. on Thursday initiated research coverage of Exxon Mobil Corp.
(xom)
with a buy rating and a price target of $100 a share. Analysts noted that Exxon holds an "impressive portfolio of major growth projects" but added that "near term production trajectory has been uninspiring." Exxon Mobil, which is one of 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average
($dj)
, has illustrated cost control and execution "that have been the envy of the industry," Dahlman Rose said. Exxon shares have traded between $73.90 and $93.36 in the past year. On Wednesday, the stock fell $1.10 to close at $91.03 a share.

MADRID (MarketWatch) -- Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Thursday said its two-notch downgrade on Spanish sovereign debt could have a "negative impact on the creditworthiness" of the country's banks. S&P cut its rating on Spain two notches to BBB-, with a negative outlook. In a statement, S&P said the downgrade could have a negative impact on several banks including: BBVA SA
(es:bbva)
(bbva)
, Banco Santander SA
(es:san)
(san)
, Banco Popular Espanol SA
(es:pop)
, Bankia SA
(es:bkia)
and Bankinter SA
(es:bkt)
, among others.

MADRID (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures rose in European trading hours on Thursday, as tensions between Syria and Turkey continued to provide some support and investors awaited supply data. Markets were clawing back ground from a 1.2% tumble on Wednesday. Ahead of Energy Information Administration data due later, the American Petroleum Institute reported late Wednesday that crude-oil supplies rose 1.65 million barrels for the week ended Oct 5. Crude for November delivery
(clx2)
rose 69 cents, or 0.8%, to $91.94 a barrel. November Brent crude
(uk:lcox2)
rose 80 cents, or 0.7%, to $115.13 a barrel.

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